Saturday, 3 September 2011

10 Historical Facts that our Textbooks forgot to mention

Instead the boats were sent back to Morocco for re-enforcement. There is no mention ofany such incident in History books written at that time or after that. A compendium written about the conquest of Spain by Muslims, “Akhbar Majmooa fi fath-e-Undlus” doesn’t mention burning of boats by the Muslim Army.

2.Sheikh Ahmad Sirhindi, wrongfully known as Mujaddad(reformer), claimed his status to be 'equal to that of the prophet and higher than that of the companions' and for that he was imprisoned by Mughal Emperor Jahangir.

4.The 1857 War of Independence was in fact a mutiny.it was no more than a localized uprising in some parts of India.Surendra Nath Sen, in his Eighteen Fifty Seven(Calcutta,1958) says “Outside Oudh and Shahbad there are no evidences of that general sympathy which would invest the Mutiny with the dignity of a national war”. R.C Majumdar, in his The Sepoy Mutiny and the Revolt of 1857(Calcutta,1963) declares that “it cannot be regarded as a national rising, far less a war of independence, which it never professed to be”.

5.Quaid-e-Azam,Muhammad Ali Jinnah, did not acquire any degree of law from England.He was a barrister and a barrister “is not an attorney and is usually forbidden, either by law or professional rules or both, from "conducting" litigation. This means that while the barrister speaks on the client's behalf in court, he or she can only do so when instructed by a solicitor”.

6.Allama iqbal didn't present the concept of of Pakistan in his Allah Abad Address (Muslim league papers) rather he strongly dissociated himself from the idea in his letter to The Times.

His exact words were 'i do not put forward a "demand" for a moslem state outside the British empire' and that 'No Indian Moslem with any pretence to sanity contemplates a Moslem state or series of states in North-Western India outside the British Commonwealth of nation as a plan of practical politics'

7.'Socialist Republic of Bengal' was the name suggested for an independent Bengal, agreed upon by M.A Jinnah, Hussein Shahid suharwardy and Sarat Bose(brother of Subhash Chandra bose,the legendary freedom fighter)

10. Karakorum Highway is NOT the silk road(Shahrah-e-Raisham) i.e it is not a part of the legendary Silk Route to China about which Marco Polo, Wilhelm of Rubruck etc wrote about. How this fallacy got into our curriculum, lets hear it from Mr. Salman Rashid “Imagine a desk-bound, half-educated, bureaucrat of the minister of tourism who thought of cashing in on the newly built highway. What better idea than stealing some of the glamour and romance of the real Silk Road. The man probably reckoned that by so naming it, we’ll have tourists giving off the real item and thronging to our shores.

This pygmy did not realise that instead of this supposititious untruth, we could simply have billed this great highway as the eighth wonder of the world — which it truly is”

@ ChaiticSilence I agree, its not yet established, I added it to the list mostly to raise awareness about this. KKH may/may not include parts of the fabled Silk Route.

@courageI admit, I focused more on Pakistan Movement history, and I would love to write about the largest organization and Political Party in Pakistan i.e Pakistan Army, which in 1979 took t upon itself to guard the "ideological" boundaries of this nation(in addition to the physical boundaries). It was a change in the oath at PMA Kakul Academy.

Sir, may I ask you with what intent you have posted it. Quoting a single source which could be the opinion of the author does not qualify your statements to become a fact. It certainly needs some pure academic research to prove it or otherwise.

@youngnights, you said, " NOT about THE TRUTH", I subscribe to the post-modernist point of view that there is no absolute truth, my effort is named "facts that official textbooks didn't mention" which means it is sort of an alternate discourse on history. I don't claim what I have written is nothing but the truth. I have tried to find well-researched books and well-reputed authors to quote so that there should be lesser ambiguity about Pakistan History. 9 out of 10 people in Pakistan don't know about these facts, what should I have done.? Just let it be like that.?

@Knonie Regarding 100% truth read my above point, yes history books all over the world have been manipulated, even in the so-called Modern World i.e US, Germany, Japan, but in those countries there has also been research and work on Alternate History.

The 1857 War of Independence was in fact a mutiny. A totally fabricated and misled historical fact by you. You should take time to have research on this issue. I will provide you references soon. Your facts and writings are not much different to right wing writers.

About Me

Intrepid Traveler, more interested in Political Economy and History than Medicine, Politically Liberal. I support historical Revisionism(rewriting Pakistan's textbooks). have written for Dawn Blogs(English and Urdu), The News, The Friday Times,The News on Sunday,The Nation, Journal of Pakistan Medical Students, Express Tribune Blogs, Pakistan Today, ViewPointOnline.net and Pak Tea House. Currently Assistant Editor at Pak Tea House. Interested in general knowledge.